My name is Rayne Whole.
I stood alone amid the swirling smoke and scorched earth, staring at the grotesque creature that had emerged from the heart of the lightning—Alter Ego, as it was named in the ancient records. Its form was repulsive: a twisted body, as if forcibly folded by the will of another world; three faces grinning soullessly; six arms clawing at the air with hunger; and eight eyes glowing red like tiny hells peering into this world.
Those who had bowed and been burned by the lightning? Just a bunch of foolish worshippers. Fanatics without knowledge, victims of their own ignorance. Their deaths were nothing more than dry leaves consumed by the night wind. Meaningless.
I let out a breath.
"But..." I muttered softly, my eyes still locked on the creature,
"...you look young."
Perhaps that was an insult to Alter Ego.
Without warning, one of the creature's arms shot forward—shriveled and stretching like a whip of pitch-black shadow, slicing through the air at terrifying speed. Its motion made a sound like flesh being torn open.
I leapt back, my body thrown by the wave of energy that followed the strike. The ground where I had just stood shattered instantly, cracked like fallen glass.
In mid-air, I twisted my body, repositioning as I inhaled. The wind coiled around me, whipping up a short dance as my cloak fluttered among the ash and embers.
"No experience," I said lightly, though a hint of scorn lay beneath the words,
"In the end, you're just running on raw instinct."
My right hand reached for the sword at my waist. The blade was slender, nearly invisible in the darkness—but if one looked closely, glowing runes shimmered along its steel, like living incantations carved into metal.
With a single smooth, precise motion, I swung the sword forward.
SHAAK—!
The blade tore through the air, and in an instant... the creature's three heads were sliced clean off its body. No time to scream. No time to thrash. Only silence followed—a silence sharper than the cry of death.
The severed heads struck the ground with a dull thud. Its body, directionless and confused, stumbled… then collapsed.
I landed softly, dust rising with each footstep that touched the ground. The sound of my sword sliding back into its sheath echoed like a small bell in the heart of the dark.
I sighed quietly.
"Was the intel wrong? This was just… an undeveloped creature."
My voice was flat, tinged with irritation and boredom.
The information I had received from the Codex Abyssalis—a manuscript detailing the locations and threat levels of Alter Egos—had stated that the third stage was here. A creature that should possess higher consciousness and spiritual strength capable of tearing through dimensions. But this... this was nothing more than a stray dog.
"Seems like a mistake," I muttered, scanning the scorched earth.
"Or a trap."
Suddenly, the sky trembled again. But this time it wasn't lightning. It was deeper. Like the voice of the world itself crying out—reality cracking open.
"Oi, Rayne!" a voice called sharply from the ruins.
I turned.
Someone emerged from the fog. Slender, but powerful. Loose silver hair tied back. A robe marked with eastern sigils flowing with her steps. Aline Jurgen, my partner. Same age as me, though she often acted like a child. But when the time came to fight, she was not someone to be underestimated.
"What's going on?" I asked curtly.
"I should be the one asking that! Where's the Alter Ego?" Aline looked around, clearly disappointed.
I pointed to the charred corpse.
"Handled. But just a young one. The intel we got was worthless."
Aline raised an eyebrow.
"Tch. What a waste of all that prep. I thought we'd be facing a nightmare today."
I looked at her, then glanced upward. The sky had changed. It wasn't the dark of night, nor the ordinary void. It had fractured—veins of purple light stretching like a cosmic spiderweb across the sky.
"But... looks like something interesting is coming."
Aline turned her eyes upward. Her gaze widened.
CRAACKKK—!!
The sky truly shattered—no metaphor. The cracks widened, forming a ring, and then… a colossal hand reached through the rift in reality. Its skin looked like burning stone laced with dried blood. Its claws were long, dripping black fluid that melted holes into anything it touched.
The world held its breath.
One hand. Two hands. A head. A body.
From the tear in the sky, a monstrous being crawled out—a giant from another dimension's hell. It resembled the previous Alter Ego, but this one towered dozens of meters high, as if molded from hatred and twisted flesh. Its face was not one, but hundreds, overlapping and writhing. Its arms branched like broken trees. Its veins glowed with purple fire. Its voice sounded like a scream echoing from the pit of time itself.
"Alter Ego… stage one..." Aline whispered, her voice cracking with awe and fear.
"This thing could wipe an entire nation off the map in seconds."
I didn't answer. I just gave a dry smile.
Because I knew…
this wasn't just a battle.
This was a test from the world itself.
If an ordinary human were to witness this…
They would think it a nightmare, or a blasphemous tale pulled from forbidden scriptures. But the reality before us offered no room for denial.
That creature—Alter Ego, Stage 1—was the physical embodiment of despair given flesh and form. It wasn't just a giant; it was a distortion of the world itself, crawling out through a tear in reality. Its towering body stood like a living fortress, its skin rippling with screaming faces, as though thousands of souls had been torn from life and fused into its flesh. A thick fog seeped from its body, reeking of blood and sulfur, suffocating the air around it.
Aline laughed—but it wasn't joy.
It was the hysterical laugh of disbelief—a sound born when the human mind could no longer process what it was seeing.
"Rayne..." she said, her voice bitter but laced with resignation. "I think this is our last fight."
I turned slightly, a thin smile curving my lips.
"You giving up?" I asked flatly. "Since when did a coward become my partner?"
Aline didn't respond. She wasn't offended—she knew I wasn't mocking her. I was challenging her to stay standing. To keep fighting.
And before the Alter Ego could fully set its foot upon the earth…
I leapt.
The air hissed as I pierced through it. The wind froze around me. My cloak flared like the wings of a war god descending from the sky.
I drew my sword. The blade now shimmered with a silver-violet aura, the runes along its edge glowing bright—forming protective enchantments from ages long past.
SRAAAKK—!!!
My first slash cut straight toward the creature's arm—my intent clear: stop it before it could firmly set foot on the ground.
KRAKK!!
But instead of flesh being torn—what I got was a jarring impact. My sword bounced off, sending a shockwave up my arm, numbing it instantly.
"Tch." I twisted mid-air, redirecting my second strike elsewhere. This time with full force. My goal shifted: not to kill—but to wound.
Yet the creature seemed to read my intent.
CLANG!!
One of its elongated claws—sharp as a god's dagger—parried my strike with terrifying precision. The clash threw me back. I was forced to shift from offense to defense purely by instinct.
I landed on one knee, breath ragged.
"Damn it… just its claw alone can match my full power?" I whispered.
"Is this… the moment I finally face death?"
Aline approached, her eyes narrowed with focus even as sweat streamed from her temples.
"Rayne, don't be reckless. This isn't a normal target. We're up against a living catastrophe. Rushing in blindly will only accelerate the end. We need to call for backup."
I knew she was right. Logically, strategy was the answer.
But logic isn't what fuels people like me.
"Waiting isn't an option…" I murmured, raising my sword,
"…because if it finishes standing… there'll be nothing left to save."
I bowed my head briefly, assuming a stance. Low footing, body leaning forward, eyes closed for a moment—aligning my soul with my blade. I steadied my breath.
"I don't want to see it again…" I whispered—nearly a prayer.
"…the hell I once escaped."
In a single deep breath, I lifted my sword skyward.
"Titanfall Slash."
The runes on my sword exploded with light. Energy surged from my feet through my body, igniting ancient symbols across my skin—like divine armor from a forgotten age. I launched forward.
"RAYNE!!!" Aline screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the world's roar.
I slashed—from sky to earth. This technique had once split a mountain during a previous mission. But—
"ROWRRRRHHH!!!"
The creature roared. Its voice didn't just pierce the ears—it stabbed straight into the soul. A sound that drained courage and replaced it with helpless insignificance.
The roar unleashed a whirlwind unlike any other. Like a divine storm birthed from the mouth of death. The wind swallowed me whole.
"ARGHHHHHH!!"
I was dragged into it, my body whipped and thrown, then torn from every direction. It felt like being struck by a thousand blades at once. My blood sprayed through the air—scattered to nowhere.
Aline didn't hesitate.
Seeing my body hurled away, she leapt forward, her blade enveloped in a sapphire-blue protective energy. But even at full power…
She couldn't pierce the creature's defense.
The creature was too massive, too powerful, too real.
But just before I was consumed by darkness, before my consciousness slipped away completely… I saw it.
Chains.
Massive, shimmering black chains.
Emerging from both the earth and the sky, they wrapped around Alter Ego's body. Binding it. Pulling it back.
The creature roared again. This time, not in assault—but in resistance. It was being restrained. Trapped.
Someone—or something—was dragging it back into the dimensional rift.
I didn't know who. I didn't know why. But the world granted me one breath of relief… before everything went dark.
I closed my eyes.
And the night swallowed us both.